A Barter for the Sake of Old Memories
by Santiago'sGirl1985
Summary: Being On the island has left free time for the worn out gears do when Dom asked Sam to add to his arm tattoo she was very happy to but she had no idea that she would make a barter with another gear that would change her life forever rated for language
1. Chapter 1

A Barter For the Sake of Old Memories

Chapter 1: An unlikely Trade

Sam stopped to check her work. Dominic Santiago had asked her to add to the tattoo that already exsisted on his arm.

She brought a damp cloth across her freish lines to examine them better. The heart with his wife's name: Maria was trasnforming nicely. The tatto was becomming an Angel, her long hair fanned out around her, and her slinder arms crossing in front of her chest.

Dom, who had been staring at nothing in particular finally looked down at it.

"It looks great, Sam. Thank you for doing this for me."

"No problem. I'm glad I can do this for you."

They sat at the bottem of a small janitor closet, a little cramped but away from any prying eyes.

Sam had her tattooing supplies spreaded out on a few empty boxes.

The COG didn't support self-done tattooing, but they didn't really try to stop it either. Still, it was better not to flaunt it.

Seeing his wife's name still brought pain. Who knows how long it will take for the heart.

"Sam?"

"Hm?"

She shook her head. "Never mind."

Carefully she brought the neelded upwards, making the first wing. Several minutes of silence passeed between them as she continued on the work at hand.

After some time, she placed the tattoo gun down, rinced the old cloth rag and begain to wipe away the blood.

"Again, thank you Sam."

Sam gave him a gentle smile. "Really, it's no problem. If there is anything else I can do let me know."

Dom watched as she quickly disassembled her gun and start washing off the ink and blood Her hands moved quickly as she put everything away.

They silently opened the door, peeking out only to find the halls empty. After a quick goodnight, the two parted ways to hopefully get some sleep for once.

A week came and went quickly and once again things picked up with Prescott niviting the stranded into the base. Before coming to the island, several Gears had been found, just barly getting by.

"Samantha Byrne?"

She did not reconize the voice and quickly turned.

It was a female Gear, her brown hair cut short, very thin looking even in big bulky chest armor.

"Yes? Do I know you?"

She smiled, a very friendly and open smile. "No, but I have heard about you."

Sam gave her a confused look. This must have been one of the Gears that had been out there when the Hammer of Dawn distroyed all of Sera.

"Can we talk in privet?"

"Sure."

Sam lead her to an empty part of the base, stopped and turned to her.

"You're works nice." She kept her voice low.

"And what work is that, because I don't think you're talking about me being a Gear."

She smiled. "No, but I have seen your addition to Dom's tatttoo."

"How do you know about that?"

"I should introduce myself. My name is Emily. I already have one tattoo, it's a cog at the base of my neck. During the fifteen year war, I was captured and taken down into the hollow where they braded and torchered me. They had braded me with the symble into my right shoulder so I thought maybe getting a tattoo of two lancers crossed in between. Good verses Evil."

"So what do I have to do with it?"

"I am hoping that you can do my new tattoo in return I believe that I have something that will make it all worth your time."

That cought her attention.

"What do you have that you think would interest me?"

Emily smiled. "You have to take your chance."

A second later, Sam hed out her hand. "It's a deal!"

"Great." Emily shook her hand. "I promise you will not regret this."

"I hope not."

"Oh, you won't. Thank y ou, Sam. I should get going."

"Alright. I"ll gather my supplies and let you know when I'm ready."

"Alright. Thank you."

Sam watched as Emily walked away. Everything was hapening so fast and now she was dying to find out what Emily had.

TBC

Please read and review. Thank you all who have read and reviewd all my stories.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: I hate waiting

Peace and quiet didn't last ver long since their arrival on the island. Huge stocks brought forth exploding polops and now threatened their lives and once again the Gears were busy.

Sam had been very busy, but this unexpected barter still remained at the back of her mind.

"Sam!" Dom's voice broke through her thoughs and she stopped to let him catch up.

"What's up?"

"Col Hoffman wants every member of Delta Squad to meet in CIC."

They jogged across the base in the direction of CIC.

"What's going on, Dom?"

"Lambent of course."

"Yeah, why am I not suprised?"

Any animal in the area began to go wild. Pacing and making osie. And then it happened.

Nobody had time to react when a huge stock came out of the ocean only a few miles away from shore. The people began to panic and run toward the CIC building demanding answers,

Hoffman struggled to speak over the crowd.

"QUIET!"

It was Marcus' voice that silenced everybody. Normally his voice never chanced from it's monotone, just volume.

Every once and a while Marcus would use his posh to talk to the "upperclass" to get their attention and get what needs to be done.

"Thank you, Marcus." Hoffman turned to the corwd to adress them. "Everybody needs to calm down and go back to what you were doing We have everything under controll."

"Yeah right." a voice called out.

"Then why is that thing there?!" a woman cried pointing to the huge stock.

"You heard that man!"

In seconds everybody scattered, returning to what they were doing before the stocks showed up but still keeping an eye on it. You couldn't miss something that big.

Marcus could get almost anybody to do something. He had the voice and build of somebody in charge. He even had the walk.

The only one who could piss off Marus. Of course Baird could piss off anybody.

Marcus Fenix not only had a commanding voice, he had a posh one as well. Comming from such a backround, still he rarely ever used posh. Still, for a quiet man like Marcus he could speak to anybody and accomplish what needed to be done.

"Delta Squad." Col Hoffman barked. "Inside now."

Col Victor Hoffman was rough around the edges, but when it came to Delta Squad, he had nothing but respect for them.

Inside CIC, they stood in a small room while a few others begain to pile in. It was a tight fight with several people from CIC and sevearl fully armored Gears.

"Alright." Hoffman stared, causing everybody to go silent. " I just got word that there are quite a few hundred polops are on the beach We need men out there ASAP. Baird, you'll stay in here. As soon as the satalites are ready, fire the Hammer of Dawn at the stock."

"Right."

"Are you sure we should let him handle that since the last time he took controll of the hammer of dawn." Sam teased.

Baird was about to open his mouth when Cole's very large hand slapped him on the back, almost knocking him right off his feet.

Cole shook with laughter. "Whoo! That's a good one, right Damon?"

Baird pushed away his hand, but for once didn't say anything.

Sam watched as he hurried away. The way he moved, th eway he spoke, there was something bothering him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Let's get going." Hoffman said.

He hurried toward the beach with Bernie close behind. Delta followed right on their heels.

Marcus glanced sideways at Anya. She looked small as always, but with the large metal armor, it made her look even smaller. She still had a little trouble moving. The armor was no longer as heavy as it use to be, but Anya had been in CIC for so many years.

It took them several long minutes to get down to the beach. The sand was still damp from high tide, making their boots sink deep into the beach and making their treak arcoss the beach that much harder. With each step they took, they could feel their feet slip and sink.

"Man, those things are nasty!"

Polops scurried across the sand easily, making their way toward the approaching Gears faster than the Gears can get toward them.

Gunfire and smoke filled the air as they opened fire. With each polop that was shot, they exploded and splattered imulsion all over the sand.

"Damn!" Cole said cheerfully.

"Whewre is the back up."Marcus' voice came on the radio.

"Just hold on." Baird muttered. "We don't have the use of every satalite any more. This is going to take time."

"Yeah, time we don't have."

Baird muttered something incoherient.

Even in all the action, Sam found herself thinking about the unexpected barter.

It bothered her, not knowing what excactly it was she was trading for.

That brief distraction was all the polop needed to get close to Sam and explode.

"Oh, crap!"

Sam fell back, shielding her face from any imulsion that went flying.

"Sam!" Anya laid down cover fire, taking out several more polops.

"Look out!"

The warning came a little late as the huge stock came down hard on the beach, releasing several more polops.

"Baird!" Sam yelled over the radio. "TODAY!"

"Yeah yeah yeah."

They could hear the tapping of keys and Baird muttering. There was a moment of silence, then more key tapping.

"Alright. Bout five more minutes and the satalites will be all lined up."

The polops just kept comming, attacking them relentlessly. They felt themselves becomming exhausted as their lungs were starting to burn, telling their body that they needed fresh air.

"Baird!" Marcus sounded as if he was winded.

"Almost...THERE!" Look out I am firing now!"

Everybody took off, getting out of the range of fire. They saw the huge beam of light appear out of nowhere, comming down to engulf the stock completely. In seconds, it traveled across the water and too the beach, taking out quite a bit of the polops.

After only several seconds, though it seemed like much longer, the light finally disappeared, leaving behind blackened sand and a very large dead stock. It didn't take them very long to clean up what was left.

The walk back up the hill toward CIC was difficult in complete body armor. They moved slow and steady, feeling very winded afterwards. They stood at the top, trying to catch their breath before moving on.

No. Tonight wouldn't be the night for making the trade. Right now all Sam wanted to do was take a cold shower and climb into bed.

Dom came up beside her. "Do you know how to get a hold of her?" She had no idea how he could read her mind so easily.

"No, but I'm just too tired right now to do it tonight. We'll figure out something."

"Figure out what?" Anya had been right behind them.

Sam looked around to make sure that nobody else could hear her.

"Somebody found out that I did Dom's tattoo and wanted to make a trade with me to do her tattoo. I never seen her before so I don't know how to get a hold of her."

"What's her name?"

"All I know is Emily. That's all I can tell you."

Anya smiled. "I know her.."

"You do?!" Sam and Dom said together.

"Yeah, I met her in grade school. We just happen to share the same birthday as well. Growing up together you can say that we're pratically sisters. We use to tell people that we were twins."

"Then you can pass her a message then?"

"Of course. What would you like me to tell her?"

"Three days. Meet me at the far end of the base where the storage area is. I'll be waiting there."

"Sure."

"And thanks Anya."

The shower felt even more wonderful as she let the cool water run over her skin, washing away sweat, dirt and imulsion. Sam closed her eyes, feeling the water rung through her dark hair and down her back.

'So it's set..' she thought. 'In three days time, i'll find out what I'm trading for...'

Damn she hated waiting.

After several minutes, she stepped out of the shower, dried off and got dressed. Falling asleep wasn't as easy as she hoped.

She laid in bed and stared at the celing. Her thoughts would remain on the upcoming event. Only three days away.

That was too long of a wait.

I really really REALLY hate waiting...

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

A Barter for the Sake of Old Memories

Chapter 3: The Barter

She was late. Sam began to pace in the darkness of the moonless night. She hated waiting.

The only sound heard was the dirt crunching under her boots.

Dom leaned against the building standing very still he scanned the darkness for any movement. He watched as Sam spun on her heels and walked in the other direction.

'She's nervous.' Dom thought.

He had joined her so she wouldn't be alone. It was completely safe anyways, but it wasn't like he was going to get any sleep anyways.

The sound of approaching footsteps cought their attention and they both turned .

Marcus came out of the darkness. "It's just me."

Sam let out a long breath, her heart hammered in her chest. There was a small part of her that was almost disappointed. No words were exchanged as they waited. That was all they could do now.

Once again Sam found herself pacing the filty ground. She felt like she was going crazy.

Once again Sam was pacing the filty ground, wearing a grove into the ground.

"Sam." Dom said quietly. "You're making me dizzy. Why don't you you sit down and take a break."

"Can't. I hate waiting. I am just...I don't know."

The sound of Cole's laugheter made them all jump.

Cole, Barid and Anya now joined the sullen group.

After several minutes, once again the sound of footsteps were heard. Everybody froze, feeling on edge. The steps were slow and steady, holding confadence as Emily stepped into the dim light.

"Sorry I'm late." her voice was quiet. "I had some stuff to take care of."

"Hey Emily."

"Anya."

The others watched as Emily and Anya embraced each other.

"Alright." Baird said. "How the hell do you two know each other."

Both Anya and Emily turned to Barid, smiling, their hands linked.

"Emily and I met in primary school. We grew up together, even share the same brithday."

"I always went over to Anya's house So eventually we started to tell everybody that we are twins."

"Baird Crossed his arms over his chest. Just as he was about to open his mouth, but Sam cut him off.

"So, your tattoo. Tell me about your idea?"

Emily scanned the area, then removed her black t-shirt, revealing a red tank top. She turned, showing off her back. At the base of her neck, was a tattoo of a Black Gear with a Skull in the middle. To the far right, a dark red burn in the shape of the Locust symbol. It was a nasty burn really read and raised as if it were fresh and once infected.

Everybody winced.

"The tattoo idea is two lancers crossed with a little blood splattered around it. I want it between my current tattoo and the burn so that it will read good verses evil."

"Hm. I like it." she paused. " Shall we get started?"

"Alright."

Finding a small area, Sam laid out her supplies and began to put together her tattoo gun.

"When did you get that first tatto?"

"Hm?" Emily smiled. "With my fiance and Marcus. We all have the same tattos."

"Wait." Dom said. "You're Carlos' Emily?"

"Yeah." her voice went quiet.

Sam's tattoo gun buzzed to life, filling the small area. She poured some black ink in a small plastic continer and dipped the end of the needle in the ink.

"Alright." Sam said. "You ready?"

"Let's go."

Dom couldn't stop staring at Emily. She felt herself blush.

"Carlos spoke highly of you." Emily said quietly. "He has always spken highly of you."

Dom smiled. "Thank you."

Emily winced when the needle first touched her skin, drawing first blood. She felt it being dragged across her skin, leaving a line in ink in it's wake. With each passing minute, her skin became numb.

Sam noticed the light green bag that sat to the left of Emily. The once deep green bag was fadded, with many holes making it look old and tattered.

Emily noticed. "I think this will really suprise you."

"Yeah, I couldn't stop thinking about it."

There was a light conversation as Sam ran the needle against Emily's pale skin. After several minutes, she grabbed the wet cloth at her side and wiped away the blood.

"it's looking really good." Anya said. "You're really fast."

"I've done quite a few tattoos." Sam admitted.

Sam found herself glancing over at the bag several times throught doing the tattoo. Whatever it was, it kept drawing her attention toward it.

"You just can't stop."

Emily laughed. "Yeah, I've had this thing for some time." Truthfully I stole it back from some stranded thieving scum."

Cole laughed. "Now you're sounding like Baird."

Baird simply crossed his arms over his chest.

"There." Sam got the rag, wet it and gave the tattoo one final wipe.

"Wow Sam." Dom said. "That's amazing. I might need another tattoo."

Sam laughed as she carefully took apart her tattoo gun and begain to clean it. her hands moved quickly as she washed each piece and carefully put it away.

"Thank you so much Sam."

"I'm glad to help."

With the help of Anya and a few mirrors, Emily was able to check out her new tattoo."

"You're skilled." Emily gently placed the bag gently in Sam's lap. "Again, thank you."

Quickly she stood, and streached a little. "I should get some sleep. I have a early shift tomorrow." They watched as Emily left the room, then all eyes were on the bag. Carefully Sam picked it up, turning the old cloth in her hands.

Stiching cought her attention. A name. This bag belonged to somebody. As she turned it around, she could feel it's contents shift around.

The name on the bag had her completely off gard. Out of all the possibilities, this one never popped into her mind. Everybody around her was too young to know the name. All but her.

The name...a name that hadn't been spoken in years.

Samuel Byrne.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

A Barter for the Sake of Old Memories

Chapter 4

Samuel Byrne.

"Dad?"

Dom wasn't sure at first if he had heard her right. She never spoke of any family members.

Her hand rand across the rough materal and over the stiching. She had no memories or anying of her father. Now his old duffle bag serfaces with a few of his belongings . She felt the bag's weight, very light.

Sam looked up at Dom. "I want Col Hoffman to be here when I open the bag. My father served with him at Anvil Gate. I think he should be here."

Dom nodded. "Okay."

She hugged the bag to her chest and closed her eyes. Was this the scent of her father? What was in here?

Whatever was in this bag, it belonged to her father and that's all that mattered.

A soft knock woke Col Hoffman from his light sleep. He got up on his elbos and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Beside him, Bernie slept soundly, the bankets pulled tightly around her slinder frame.

"Hold on." he called out quietly.

Crossing the small room, he opened the door to see Delta Squad stading there.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah." Sam held up the bag."I think you will want to see this."

He immediately reconized the bag. He alwao reconized the name.

"How did you get that?!"

"What's going on, Vic?"

He opened the door, letting everybody in. Nobody was really suprised to see Bernie laying there.

"Bernie, you might want to see this."

She sat up, pushing her hair out of her face. Today Bernie seemed more like an old lady than normal to Baird and that worried him.

Sam sat down at the foot of the bed and gently set the bag down between them as if it would break. She could feel the old bed sagging under the strain of her weight.

Bernie knew the name right away. A name she hadn't thought of in many yhears. She shivered, suddenly cold and pulled the blankets up around her once more.

"How the bloody hell did you get that?! Supposedly it had been stolen."

Sam sighed. "A barter."

Bernie and Hoffman gave her a funny look.

"She found out that I did Dom's tattoo and asked me if we can do a trade. I do her tattoo and she'll give me something worth my time. So I did her tattoo and she gave me this."

"I haven't seen that bag in so many years..." Hoffman's voice had gotten relly quiet.

Something baout Hoffman had changed. He seemed sad, and also looked much older. It's strangehow the years and war can suddenly catch up making a person look much older than they seem.

"I wanted you to be here." Sam said. "I knew you served with him so it's only right that you two be here when I open his beg."

"Thank you, Sam." Hoffman was honored that she wanted him to be here. He considered her to be like a daughter.

She took a deep breath and slowly began to unzip the only thing she physically owned that linked her to her father. She didn't even realize that she was holding her breath until she became light headed.

All eyes were on the bag.

Slowly she reached in, her fingers wrapped around the first thing she touched. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Sam felt her heart pouding fiercly in her chest. Her breath was now rapid, causing her lungs to burn. She had no idea what thsi bag held, but she was surrounded by friends who will always be there for her.

The first item was a simple rason. The once clean shaver was now completely rusted and the handle almost completely sun bleached.

Her father's rasor. It was a simple rasor to anybody who laid eyes on it, but to her it was a prised possession. She turned it over in her hands, memorizing everything about it. She could picture her father standing over a sink to shave with it.

"Sam..."

Baird was cut off when Cole slapped his hsoulder, almost knocking him off his feet. He couldn't understand what was so special about a cheap plastic rasor.

He crossed his large arms over his chest and frowned.

"Hm."

Again she reached in this time pulling out a few items. A comb that had some dark hairs in it a mirror and a very old and pale bottle of shaving cream which was of course empty.

Was this hairs from her parents or did somebody else use these things. Her hopes were on that they belonged to her parents.

In the far corner of the bag she found som metals that her father had recieved. One of them was the Embry star, the highest metal that one could recieve.

"He got that for dying at Anvil Gate." Hoffman said. "I tried to talk to him into going with your mother but he wouldn't leave his fellow Gears to die whil he gets away. Your father is a true hero."

Tears filled her eyse and she quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Bernie sat silently as she watched Sam pull things out of the bag that looked as if it's seen better days.

Sam pulled out a small leather notebook. As she quickly skimmed the pages, she realized that it was her father's were newspaper clippings and photos of places that he's been.

One photo fell out, falling face down on the bed. When Sam picked up, she noticed the faded writing on the back.

_**Sam,**_

_**This is the happiest dy of my life! Here is a picture of us so you will always have me with you when we are apart. That way you will always have me with you no matter where you go. I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART ALWAYS AND FOREVER.**_

_**Love always, **_

_**Sheraya Byrne**_

The handwriting even though was faded had been written very neatly by her mother. Sam flipped it over to get a better glance at the couple. They looked so happy together. Samuel wore his military uniform, his hair neat, s and a small smile on his face. Beside him, Sheraya sat in a simple dress, her hair framing her face beautiful and a big grin on her face.

Sam stared at the picture, studing their face. They looked so happy together.

"He really loved her. Would do anything and give up everything for her. They were in love, head over heels in love."

Hoffman nodded. "It still haunts me, the fact that he didn't escape with your mom and ended up dying there. He shouldn't have stayed. he should have just gone like I told him to."

She scanned the pages, looking at the different dates. She quickly read through a page about the wedding and a few others about the unborn baby.

Before she knew it, a single tear slid down her cheek all the way down hewr chin. When one that escaped it gave way to another and then another until she couldn't stop them.

"I'm sorry, I just can't stop..."

Bernie placed a hand on her knee. "You don't have to apolise and you really don't have to continue if you don't want."

"No. I'm fine really.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Carefully she placed the book on teh bed and went back to searching the bag.

As she searched the bag, her fingers ran across a paper and gave her a paper cut.

"Ouch!" She put her finger to her mouth and tasted blood.

"You alirhgt?"

"Yeah just a papercut."

Carefully she pulled out a long rolled up piece of paper and carefully unrolled it. It took her breath away.

It was a beautiful water panting of her parents on their wedding day. Samuel Byrne stood wearing his COG uniform, beside him stood his very beautiful new bride. Sam, her father had an arm wrapped around her lovingly, as the city of Kashkur streached out behind them.

"That's..."

"I remember that day." Hoffman said. "Our superior officer was a painter and the day your parents got married, he panted them as a wedding gift. "

Sam's dark eyes scanned the panting, memorizing everything she could about her parents. It was once a very vibrent color painting of a desert homeland, but the color had faded greatly.

"That is something that I haven't seen in a many long years."

"It's beautiful." Anya said quietly.

Hoffman smiled "He was a very talented artest. We use to go to the top of this hill just so he could sketch and paint."

She ran a finger across their fading faces.

"I wish I met my father. All I ever grew up on was the stories my mother told me."

"A true hero." Bernie whispered.

Hoffman slid a hand under the covers, took Bernie's hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. In return, she squeezed back and gave him a gentle smile.

In the sort time they all had spent crammed in that tiny room, they had become much closer. It was a barter, for the sake of the old memories that was just so worth it.

THE END


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